Simpson Housing Limited Partnership has submitted designs to the City of Hillsboro for a 711-unit apartment complex estimated to cost $30 million.

The project, located by the Quatama light-rail station, is one of three apartment complexes Denver-based Simpson plans to build along the westside MAX line. When all three are completed, Simpson will own about 2,000 apartment units, constructed for about $98 million, along the transit route.

"Higher density is definitely the wave of the future" in greater Portland and in other cities, said Paul Herskowitz, Simpson's senior vice president for the Northwest.

Although the projects approach the upper limits of density for suburban development, they are ending up a little smaller than the maximum figures previously discussed. Simpson downsized the Quatama project from 747 units, cut its nearby Orenco Station project from a potential 850 apartments to 812 and probably will build 450 to 475 units at Southwest Murray Boulevard and Jenkins Road in Beaverton, down from a maximum of 500.

Simpson pushed to maximize the parking for the projects, Herskowitz said. That plus comments from Hillsboro officials on the need to preserve green space led to the smaller versions. The Hillsboro projects, he said, will have 1.62 parking spaces per unit, the maximum the city would allow. Simpson would have preferred 1.8 spaces.

At about 28 units per acre--greater once acreage is discounted for wetlands and streets--the Hillsboro projects are dense enough to please Tri-Met, which wants to build ridership along the rail line, said Henry Markus, Tri-Met's coordinator for station-area development. And at about 48 units per acre, the Beaverton project surpasses the agency's expectations.

Fueled by pension money from public employees of the state of Michigan, the partnership plans to nearly double its Portland-area units. The limited partnership, which generally builds its own projects and holds them for the long term, already owns 2,100 units in an area stretching from Salem to Vancouver, Wash. The partnership already has broken ground on the 298-unit Cascade Summit complex in West Linn, which at 10 units to the acre and two parking spaces per unit illustrates traditional suburban densities.

Simpson plans to bring some innovations to the westside projects.

At the Beaverton site next to Nike's headquarters, for example, the four-story apartment buildings will front the street and wrap around multistory parking garages, Herskowitz said. Residents will park on the same level as their apartments and use catwalks to gain access to their units.

At Orenco, Simpson's project will consist of three distinct developments--a traditional three-story walk-up building, a series of brownstone-style rowhouses and so-called big houses, buildings that look like large houses but contain several apartments.

All of the projects are slated for construction this summer, with openings ranging from the first quarter of '98 to late summer '98. Meanwhile, Trammell Crow Residential's 900-unit project at the Beaverton Woods station is already under construction.

Bowen partnership sells apartment complex

Elsewhere on the apartment front, a partnership led by real estate investor Walt Bowen has sold the Alderwood Apartments in Lake Oswego for $7.15 million.

The 128-unit complex, at 50 Kerr Parkway in the Mountain Park district, was purchased by Alderwood Associates, a limited liability company led by Benjamin Stutz of Lake Oswego. Stutz has bought and renovated several local complexes.

Built in 1974 and '75, the Alderwood Apartments were purchased by Bowen's partnership in 1983 for $5.15 million. Two years later, Bowen started selling off part of the partnership in a syndicated sale.

The limited partners had been invested for 10 years; Bowen, now president of Regent Assisted Living, preferred to concentrate on senior housing development rather than renovating aging apartments, said David Gibson, general counsel to Bowen Real Estate Group. "To the extent that properties need renovation, he would prefer to see if there's somebody out there to buy them."

McGregor Millette & Associates negotiated the sale.

Burger King group nabs Beaverton Sizzler site

The San Diego-based company that last year bought Joe Angel's Burger King empire has completed a deal to add its first new fast-food restaurant in the Portland area.

The West Wind Group has leased the former Sizzler Restaurant land in Beaverton, at 3380 S.W. Cedar Hills Blvd., from site owner Joseph Girard. The company intends to tear down the old Sizzler building and build a new Burger King for an opening this summer, said Larry Lazar, West Wind vice president of development.

"That's a [street] that Burger King was looking to be on for a long time," Lazar said.

Located across the street from Beaverton Mall, the site gets heavy traffic from businesses, shoppers and local residents, he said. The new restaurant will be West Wind's 33rd Burger King in the Portland area.

West Wind and Girard inked the long-term ground lease Feb. 1, said Debbie Courtney, the ESP Property Factors agent who negotiated the deal.